Abbotsford athletes took home handfuls of hardware from the B.C. high school track and field championships in Nanaimo from Thursday to Sunday.
The event also marked the best ever finish at the provincials by W.J. Mouat Secondary.
The Hawks finished second overall, the highest ranking of any Abbotsford school in the 44 recorded years of competition at the event.
Mouat’s dynamic throwing duo of Vikramit Gondara and Jayden Driver also had great showings. Gondara crushed the B.C. high school record in the senior men’s hammer throw by nearly six metres, throwing for 60.90 m to earn first place. Driver placed second, tossing for 53.50 metres.
Gondara also finished second in the men’s discus throw, with a total of 40.88 metres. Driver placed third with a throw of 39.45 m.
Mouat’s 4 X 400 m senior men’s relay team also stepped up to take home first place. The foursome – made up of Devon Kular, Chavis Spencer, Caston Setter and Cole Barker – finished fifth in qualifying, but then edged out Kitsilano for first place. The Hawks 4 X 100 m senior and junior men’s teams also finished second at the event.
Aaron Postma from Abbotsford Christian Secondary (ACS) continued his strong season with a first-place finish in the senior men’s triple jump. He bested his high school record of 13.49 metres set last year, with a jump of 13.90 metres.
Postma also placed third in the senior men’s long jump. He is set to join the Trinity Western University Spartans track and field team this fall.
Cayla Snow from St. John Brebeuf earned first place in the junior women’s 300 m hurdles, posting a time of 46.36 seconds. Snow finished second in the qualifying round, and then turned it on in the finals.
Greg Poirier was Bateman’s top performer at the event, placing first in the senior men’s shot put. Poirier threw for 14.18 m to grab the top spot.
Local third-place finishers at the event included: Abbotsford Senior’s Sydney Fetterly (3000 m junior women), James Kehler from ACS (junior men triple jump), Brendan Visser from ACS (1500 m race walk junior men) and MEI’s junior women’s 4 X 400 m relay team.
Other top-five finishers were: Fetterly (fourth, 1500 m run, junior women), Ryan Harvey from ACS (fourth, senior men’s high jump), Cassie Brandsma from ACS (fourth, junior women’s high jump), MEI’s Summer Joiner (fourth, 1500 m race walk, junior women), Jessica Kampman from ACS (fifth, 1500 m junior women’s steeplechase), Mouat’s Rachel Mortimer (fifth, 1500 m run, junior women), Mouat’s Linus Pieper (fifth, 110 m hurdles, senior men), Janessa Minderhoud from ACS (fifth, senior women’s pole vault) and Cameron Vanderveen from ACS (fifth, junior men’s pole vault and 1500 m race walk).
Also in Nanaimo over the weekend were the Grade 8 provincials, with several Abbotsford athletes excelling.
MEI’s Dan Ko earned first place in the men’s triple jump, leaping for a total of 11.43 m. Blake Flikkema from ACS also had a solid day, finishing third in the men’s shot put.
Other top five-finishers included: Johannah Brandsma from ACS (fourth, women’s triple jump), Jaelyn Dragt from ACS (fifth, women’s triple jump) and Zachary Meinen from ACS (fifth, men’s triple jump).
For complete results from the event, visit bctfa.ca.